


kitty favors

by nekrateholic



Category: VICTON (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, ig, subin is a kindergarten teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:59:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25018894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekrateholic/pseuds/nekrateholic
Summary: The first thing Subin does as a newfound cat parent is to fuck up. At least he gets a new... well, someone out if it?
Relationships: Han Seungwoo/Jung Subin
Comments: 20
Kudos: 106
Collections: Lucky 7 Victon





	kitty favors

**Author's Note:**

> prompt #254, aka, the kitty matchmaker prompt
> 
> this fic would've likely never seen the light of day w/o i. ily bb ♥

Taking the stairs three at a time, Subin tries to convince himself he’s not acting like a paranoid parent. He’s  _ not.  _

But it is Byeol’s first day alone at the apartment after he picked her up from the shelter on Friday and proceeded to spend the whole weekend holed inside his apartment with her. It was a lovely weekend. Subin can’t wait for the next one but in the meantime, he can’t get the key in his door fast enough. What if she got scared? What if she thought he abandoned her? What if the food he left wasn’t enough or her water bowl got upturned or-

Subin slams the door open and the apartment is eerily quiet. _ Byeol is a calm cat,  _ Subin recalls the shelter volunteer telling him.  _ She’s not much of a troublemaker but she likes people and being around them, and gets anxious when left alone. _

His couch is intact and so are his curtains. Byeol’s water bowl is the right side up and there is still some food from wha Subin left her in the morning so she shouldn’t have starved. 

Everything is where it’s supposed to be, except Byeol herself.

It takes approximately fifteen minutes to check every single corner of the apartment. Behind the curtains, the window sills, under the table, behind the couch,  _ under  _ the couch and then under both of his armchairs. He had closed the door to his bedroom and the kitchen before he went out but he checks those as well, just in case.

No sign of Byeol anywhere.

There one thing Subin has yet to check and it’s the scariest possibility of all: the door to his tiny, but no less dangerous balcony. 

The door to the balcony was closed, that he made sure to check twice before he went out this morning. It’s still closed. The lock has been broken for a while now but finding a locksmith that doesn’t have the same working hours Subin does is hard and he’s been putting it off for a while now. It’s the twelfth floor in a closed building complex, what’s the worst that could happen?

Subin wants to smack his past self in the face.  _ What’s the worst that could happen? _

He opens the door to the balcony slowly, the fear of what he may find on the other side crawling up his spine like a particularly vicious snake. 

The balcony is also empty. 

He walks the whole length of it, nothing. When he moved in, the landlord told him this used to be one big apartment, spreading along half the floor. They apparently separated it into two because it was essentially unrentable, and the only real hint that this was not always a separate space is the balcony. Narrow, lining the whole east wall of the building and connecting Subin’s balcony to his neighbour. It’s separated with iron bars where Subin’s space ends and his neighbour’s begins but it’s big enough for a cat to squeeze through. 

At least Subin hopes it is. The other option would be to glance down at the pavement below and  _ that’s  _ not something he wants to think about, not even briefly.

Quite early, Subin found out his neighbour is a mysterious creature. Their schedules seem to be polar opposites and for the six months Subin has lived here, he’s seen his neighbour maybe twice, mostly in passing.

He knows it’s a man and he knows that this man is a lot… bigger than Subin himself but that’s about it. He’s never given it much thought and he’s not giving it much thought now, as he’s frantically knocking on the neighbour’s door, brain filled with increasingly bad scenarios involving Byeol.

His thoughts are interrupted when the door swings open, revealing a disheveled man in a tank top and sweatpants and he’s  _ glaring  _ and for a moment, Subin’s brain goes completely blank. 

The man’s features smooth over in a second, replaced by a curious glance down and back up Subin’s body and Subin’s brain goes blank for a whole different reason. His eyes unconsciously travel down the man’s neck, tracking the tattoo on his shoulder. It’s letters… no, numbers? Subin doesn’t particularly remember roman numerals but it looks like numbers. There’s another tattoo on his chest but before Subin can try and decipher it, his neighbour clears his throat.

“Where’s the fire?” he says, with a half smile that has one corner of his lips upturned in a way Subin definitely isn’t staring at. 

And even if he was, he promptly forgets all about it because a glance behind hot neighbour’s shoulder shows Byeol,  _ his  _ Byeol, lazily stretched over the arm of this man’s couch. 

Subin flies through the open door without much thought, barely registering his neighbour moving out of the way in surprise, then drops to his knees in front of Byeol.

“Oh my god you’re okay, thank god you’re okay, why would you scare me like that?!” he cradles Byeol’s small face to her immense displeasure, and it takes a moment for the realization that he just barged into a stranger’s house to sink in.

He turns around slowly, not particularly excited to meet his neighbour’s eyes.

Surprisingly, the neighbour doesn’t look mad at all.

“She’s yours?”

“Uh,” Subin starts, absently petting Byeol as she gets up and moves to curl up on his folded legs instead. “Yeah? I adopted her last week and it was her first day alone while I was at work and I kind of freaked out? I couldn’t find her when I got home and… yeah.”

The neighbour nods. “I found her curled up on my bed when I woke up this morning? Well, I guess afternoon for normal people,” he chuckles quietly and Subin distantly wonders why is he so calm. Subin surely wouldn’t be, if someone barged into his apartment. 

And then the words register in his brain. “Wait, your bed?”

“Yeah,” pretty neighbour shrugs. “My part of the balcony is connected to my bedroom and I like to sleep with the door open because the morning air is nice when I fall asleep. My name is Seungwoo, by the way.”

Seungwoo. It’s nice to have a name attached to the face. Belatedly, he realizes he’s probably staring, if Seungwoo’s smug little smile is anything to go by.

“Subin,” mumbles, cradling Byeol into his arms as he gets up. “I’m sorry for this, I have no idea how she snuck out.”

“It’s fine, she wasn’t a bother,” Seungwoo shrugs again, smile turning gentle and wow,  _ wow.  _ Subin needs a moment.

Byeol clings to his chest as he heads for the door and Subin spares a moment to thank the shelter for taking care of her nails because this experience could’ve been a lot more painful. 

At the door, he turns around to see Seungwoo watching him, an unreadable expression on his face. Being caught doesn’t seem to bother him, and he grins. “Nice meeting you. And your lady friend, too.”

“Her name is Byeol,” Subin blurts before he catches himself. He offers a smile back. 

Maybe he imagines the  _ I hope so _ that follows him out the door. A part of him really wishes he didn’t, though.

*

It would be a gross lie to say Subin forgets about the incident entirely. At the very least, he checks the balcony door a grand total of five times before he leaves for work the next day. It's a whole miracle he makes it through the day with his sanity intact even if the children mostly behave for once. He's only able to breathe once his front door is closed behind him and Byeol is within eyesight, curled up in her cat bed. 

But kitty caution aside, Subin has trouble getting  _ his neighbour  _ out of his mind. It's been a while since he's dated, too preoccupied with work, finding a more permanent living situation and more recently, getting Byeol. He hasn't been interested, or had time, really, for considering an intimate partner. It's all that he blames for failing to get hot neighbour Seungwoo out of his mind. 

He’s fairly sure Seungwoo is older, too, and while Subin very much  _ wants, _ he never quite got over the tinge of inferiority that comes with always being the youngest in your group of friends. But at the end of the day, it is only a stupid desire for a person he’s barely seen since he moved in. There is no reason to believe anything will change now.

*

_ Everything  _ changes.

It’s like now that Subin has acknowledged the fact that his neighbour is, indeed, hot, he sees him everywhere. He’ll be out on his balcony hanging laundry and Seungwoo will be right on the other side, leaning over his railing. He’ll be coming home from work and Seungwoo will be going out, except unlike all their potential encounters pre-Byeol, Seungwoo smiles at him every single time, greets him, even asks about Byeol. 

It’s cute and it clashes with the way Subin kind of wants this guy to crush him against a wall. Each time Byeol sprawls on Subin's couch like she’s the owner of the home (she kind of is), he gets violent flashbacks of Seungwoo in his own home, a disheveled, a little mad and so, so gorgeous. Each time, Byeol looks at him like she can see all of his questionable thoughts and judges all of them.

"So you have the hots for your neighbour," Chan says casually,  _ way too loud. _

It's a nice, sunny Saturday morning and Subin has some regrets about inviting Chan over, even more about mentioning the Seungwoo situation. Especially the aftermath. 

Subin glares back, glancing at the open balcony door. "Would you please keep it down?" 

It occurs to him, a bit too late, that he never protested the actual statement. By the smug look on Chan's face, he's come to the same conclusion. 

"Didn't you say he sleeps during the day? Anyway," Chan goes on before Subin can interject something sensible, like  _ I don't know his actual sleeping schedule you asshole.  _ "It's a good thing," Chan grins, oblivious to (or uncaring of) Subin's glares. "You haven't dated in a while. It would do you good to get out there a bit more."

"I'm not getting anywhere, my cat just ditched me for him one time. I still have no idea how she escaped." Subin grumbles, then gets up to close the balcony door because  _ honestly.  _ Too bad the weather is so nice outside. 

"So Byeol likes him better than you, which is a great thing. You got the child seal of approval, go get your man."

Subin slams the door shut, possibly with a little too much force. Byeol startles from her curl on Chan's thighs and once again, Subin is amazed at the level of judgement cat eyes can produce. 

*

Subin enjoys being a kindergarten teacher a lot more than he thought he would when he started out. The kids are adorable and they tend to like Subin. His coworkers are great too, even if some of them treat Subin like one of the children he’s in charge of. So it’s great, at least most of the time.

Today is not most of the time.

Nayeon tripped and scraped her knee which caused Naeul, her twin, to scream louder than Nayeon did, which in turn made Bomin cry because they were playing catch when Nayeon tripped. Soon enough, Subin was surrounded with wailing preschoolers and scrambling to comfort everyone at once which, of course, failed. The afternoon had a happy ending, thankfully, even if he spent fifteen minutes picking leaves off his hair in the teacher’s bathroom afterwards. He’s not even sure what actually happened.

It’s safe to say that his day isn’t going all that great.

All he wants is to go home, cuddle Byeol and maybe rot into his couch for the foreseeable future. As fate would have it, wish two becomes impossible because Byeol is, yet again,  _ not there. _

It takes a moment for Subin to notice, too preoccupied with the world being silent for the first time on this hell day. Byeol doesn’t come out to greet him which isn’t all that concerning because she enjoys hiding when he’s not there but she doesn’t show up when he makes a show of going to the kitchen either. Now that is concerning. If there’s one thing Byeol loves more than judging Subin, it’s food.

There’s a sinking feeling in his stomach as he goes to check the cat bed, behind the curtains. The scratch post. Behind furniture, into the bedroom even though it was, again closed. No Byeol.

It’s all eerily familiar.

The panic is definitely familiar, even if Subin has had enough time to realize that Byeol is a lot smarter than mere humans give her credit for. He doesn’t check himself in the mirror as he rushes to Seungwoo’s door (but he does think about it).

Seungwoo opens on the second knock.

Subin isn’t sure if he should be glad that the tank top is replaced. It could’ve been worse. It  _ could have been gone _ but the shirt Seungwoo has on, more cleavage than actual shirt, is not that much of an improvement. His hair is falling into his eyes in that way that is too perfectly tousled to not be on purpose. He’s smiling, too, which tames Subin’s panic for some reason.

“I had a feeling you may show up,” Seungwoo says, moving away from the door to reveal Byeol curled up on top of a chair, in direct line of sight of the door. She slowly opens her eyes, fixes Subin with a blank cat look, then goes back to sleep.

Subin deflates.

Something must show on his face, or maybe all of the things, really, because Seungwoo’s amused expression turns into a concerned frown in a heartbeat.

“She’s really no trouble, she spends most of the time with me napping,” he insists, which only succeeds to make Subin feel worse.

“It’s just,” he says, waving vaguely at the empty hallway behind him. “I had a disaster day and came home to be reminded that I’m a disaster cat parent too because who lets their cat escape twice? I still haven’t found out how she does it and I didn’t even notice her gone right away.”

Seungwoo's frown deepens. "You're not a bad cat parent. I may have only met your cat twice but she seems like a resourceful creature."

"She is," Subin sighs. "Can I come in?"

He only means it as can _ I pick up my cat and go home _ but the double meaning is quick to catch up with him when Seungwoo's face lights up like a city center on Christmas.

"Wanna stay for dinner? I kind of made too much food for one person."

And Subin… wants to. He spent the bus ride home visualizing himself on the couch, staring at the ceiling with Byeol curled up on him but then again, having dinner with his pretty neighbour wasn't an option then. It is now and Subin  _ wants.  _

So he does. 

*

Seungwoo is not a bad cook. Seungwoo is not a bad cook  _ at all,  _ but then again Subin may be somewhat blinded by the feeling of a home cooked meal not born out of his own desperate attempts at proper adulting.

The food is great and the company is even better, even if Seungwoo keeps staring at Subin with so much interest that it catches him off guard. Honestly, Subin doesn’t remember the last time someone paid this much attention to him. Sure, his friends do on occasion and especially when what he’s talking about involves potential blackmail material but like this, about his day? Seungwoo seems to genuinely enjoy the recounting of the knee accident and the disaster that followed, even though he laughs when Subin grumbles about picking leaves out of his hair. It doesn’t occur to him that his hair probably still looks like someone has picked leaves off of it.

It’s not that he wouldn’t tell all of this to Chan or maybe at a group outing so all of his friends can laugh at his misery. But it feels different, somehow. Subin hasn’t decided if he’s happy about it yet.

He learns things about Seungwoo too: that he is indeed older and that he’s a freelance photographer which means no fixed working hours. Which, in turn, is the reason he keeps the odd hours that have led to him being home both times Byeol decided to be rebellious.

The meal is almost over when it occurs to Subin that Byeol never once demanded her own food (and he forgot all about it). He whips around, frantically searching for her, when Seungwoo’s voice breaks through his panic.

“You won’t see her from there, I put her bowl on my side of the island.”

Subin stretches over the island anyway and there she is: licking her paws next to a cat bowl. It’s one of the fancy ones too, pale blue ceramic and a raised stand shaped like kitten paws, with kitty ears rounding off the upper rim.

Subin stares at it for a long moment. “You bought her a bowl?”

“Uh,” Seungwoo mumbles, glancing between the bowl and Subin like both hold the secrets to the universe. “I figured twice is still a coincidence but if it ends up happening again I have to be prepared, right? I can’t feed a princess in a peasant dish.”

It’s accompanied by a smile but for the first time in the admittedly short period they’ve known each other, Seungwoo looks almost flustered. It’s cute, and for a moment, Subin’s brain flatlines at the thought.

“Her name is Byeol,” he says in the end and any hint of embarrassment drains from Seungwoo’s face, replaced by a smile that edges a little too close to smug.

“So I’ve heard. It’s cute,” Seungwoo sighs, leaning on his palms with the most ridiculous, dreamy expression. “Just like her owner.”

There’s a few seconds in which no one says anything and Subin realizes two things:

  1. He’s being flirted with.
  2. Despite the first impression, his hot neighbour is actually ridiculous.



“Really? That’s your line?” Subin laughs, which may not be the most appropriate response to being flirted with but whatever.

Seungwoo only shrugs, undeterred. “Is it really a line if it’s true?”

“You’re gonna need to try harder than that,” Subin grins, even if it feels like his entire being has curled up, purring contentedly Seungwoo takes it all in stride, even offers a theatrical bow when Subin is at the door, a displeased Byeol in his hands.

Subin is exhausted when he finally gets home, the day and the extended dinnertime weighing him down until bed feels like a desert oasis. Despite the exhaustion, Seungwoo’s smiles keep him up for a while even after he’s safely tucked in bed with Byeol curled up on the pillow next to him. 

It’s then - in bed, on his way to passing out, when the memories of him introducing Byeol to Seungwoo flood his mind. Memories,  _ plural,  _ because he did it  _ twice. _

There’s no denying the interest is there now and mortified as he is, Subin finds it somewhat exciting. Maybe it really has been too long.

*

He starts the next day with excitement bubbling in his veins.

It’s a nice, bright morning and Subin spends it with his balcony door open. He’s always thought coffee smells best at sunrise and while it’s a little past that, the warmth of the day already seeping through, the feeling is still there.

It’s a ridiculous, giddy feeling, something Subin didn’t think he’d have to go through past puberty. But here he is, glancing at Seungwoo’s closed door at seven in the morning with a smile he’d probably make fun of if it was on anyone else. He wonders if Seungwoo is already sleeping or still getting ready to. There wasn’t any sound from his side of the balcony the whole morning, even if Subin tried to keep the door open as long as possible. It made his morning routine a little rushed given that he had to firmly close it afterwards, double, triple-checking if it’s actually closed and propping a chair against it for good measure. Byeol judged him from her scratch post throughout the whole process but Subin will be damned if he fails as a cat parent further than he already has.

The commute to work is uneventful and so is work itself. The kids have predictably gotten over their little accident and Nayeon is, once again, playing catch with her sister and Bomin. Nothing happens this time.

Nothing happens on the way back either and Byeol jumps off the coffee table when Subin opens the door. 

Subin goes to bed at a normal time for once and the excitement simmers down.

*

Nothing happens the next day either. Or the day after. Work goes on as normal, Byeol no longer escapes and Subin has no reason to see Seungwoo. He regrets not exchanging numbers because texting is far easier than going up to someone’s door, especially if you’ve done it twice already.  _ Seungwoo could do it too,  _ is what he tells himself when he’s once again lulled to sleep by disappointment, whether with himself, Seungwoo or the world as a whole, Subin has no idea.

It’s Wednesday the week after the second Byeol incident when Subin sees Seungwoo again. And this time Byeol, or their home for that matter, isn’t part of the picture at all.

*

The whole morning has been cloudy but it culminates in a downpour right around the time when the kids are supposed to be picked up. A lot of parents are calling in that they'll be late which means all the teachers will have to stay later and Subin sighs. He loves rain, especially heavy rain like this one but he’d much rather spend it at home, maybe with some hot chocolate and Byeol judging him from the couch.

It’s not all that bad, though. The children take the extra time as bonus playtime but the rain has them subdued, so the noise levels are substantially lower. Subin glances around, trying to make sure no one is left behind or hurt, when he notices Sunjae huddled in a corner, away from his classmates. 

On the other side of the room, Seungsik seems to have noticed the same thing and Subin gives him a nod, then heads towards Sunjae.

Sunjae is one of their recent transfers. Subin isn’t entirely sure about the paperwork but it’s something about his mom moving for a job. It’s been a little hard for him, with all the other children already knowing each other but he’s been putting an effort and the kids have been accepting, even if they forget there’s an extra person sometimes.

Subin sits on the bench Sunjae is swinging his legs over, fingers clasped tightly around the straps of his backpack.

“Don’t feel like playing?” Subin asks, watching the way Sunjae glances at his classmates every so often.

Sunjae shrugs, then pulls his straps closer. “Mom is supposed to come get me but we come here with the bus and I’m scared she’ll get sick because of the rain. She says she can’t stay home even if she’s sick and our doctor always tells me I have to rest to get better.”

Subin has to take a moment to come up with a plan of action. He’s used to calming impatient kids or those unwilling to go home so they can play more. Sunjae’s problem sounds a little too big for a four year old.

“You have to trust your mom, though,” he says carefully, Sunjae’s eyes on him. “She loves you and even if she does get sick, you’ll be there to make her feel better, right?”

Sunjae blinks at him, thinks it over. Eventually, he nods even if he doesn’t go to play with his classmates.

Subin stays with him, even if Seungsik could probably use some help with the twins’ latest disaster. Sunjae doesn’t go to play but he tells Subin about his mom, about his stuffed bunny at home which is a gift from his uncle, about his uncle.

Funnily enough, the first parent that hurries through the door is Sunjae’s mom. 

Funnily enough  _ for Subin, _ the person that follows her in at a much calmer pace is Seungwoo.

It takes a moment for him to notice Subin but once he does, the smile that spills on his lips almost makes up for the clouds outside.

Sunjae runs to give his mom a hug, then waves at Seungwoo from her hands. “Hi uncle Seungwoo!”

Oh.

“Hey buddy,” Seungwoo says softly, reaching to ruffle Sunjae’s hair.

Any other expression Subin has seen from the man so far has nothing on the smile Seungwoo gives Sunjae

Subin is almost too transfixed by the sight to notice that both Sunjae and Nayoung, his mom, are looking at him.

Nayoung clears her throat. “You two know each other?”

“I-” Subin starts, mind drawing blank.

“We’re neighbours,” Seungwoo supplies. “His cat likes me better than him.”

Subin narrows his eyes. “There is no such thing.”

“You have a kitty?" Sunjae squeaks, eyes wide and sparkly. “Can I see it? Mom, can we have a kitty?”

“Maybe someday, baby,” Nayoung laughs. She turns to Seungwoo, a little apologetic. “Do you think we can go soon? I still need to make dinner when I get home.”

Seungwoo glances between her and Subin for a moment, then shrugs. “You can take the car, I don’t have anywhere to be tomorrow, I’ll come pick it up after you finish work.”

Nayoung narrows her eyes at him. “Are you sure?”

“It’ll be easier for you,” he says softly, then turns to grin at Subin. “I’ll be in good company on the way home, too. I just need to get my camera before you go.”

“You know I’ll need to stay until all the kids are gone, right?” Subin points out when Seungwoo is back, a heavy looking suitcase in hand. It looks fancy, certainly fancier than Subin’s shitty camera case at home.

Seungwoo carefully puts his suitcase on the ground, then grins. “It’s just children, what’s the worst that could happen?”

*

Within fifteen minutes, no less than three children have attacked Seungwoo’s fancy camera and Nayeon is currently attempting to climb on Seungwoo’s shoulders. Subin can tell Naeul is already planning her own attack. 

Seungsik looks torn between being amused and worried but Seungwoo doesn’t seem to mind and Nayeon definitely looks happy, using his shoulders as a vantage point to play pirates.

Naeul lasts about fifteen seconds of being ignored by her sister before she drags “Mister Sunjae’s friend” to show him their photo wall. Subin finds it equally embarrassing and hilarious. All the pictures are taken with phones or amateur photographer parents. There are photos of actual events - their Christmas party, the winter play Seungsik helped prepare when all the kids were obsessed with Frozen, Halloween. But more than that the photos are of the kids, everyday. Bomin with wide eyes and face stuffed with toast, Haeun wrapped in toilet paper because she’d decided to play mummy (she did get scolded for that, though). The twins sword fighting with a pair of pens Subin forgot to put away.

Seungwoo looks at every single one of them like he's at a gallery opening instead of watching a jumble of pictures in a kindergarten. 

When Naeul proudly announces that she won the sword fight, Seungwoo lets her sister down gently, picks up his suitcase and asks, "Wanna make some new pictures for the wall?"

*

The rest of the parents start trickling in soon but in that time, Seungwoo has managed to take no less than a hundred pictures. There is everything: the twins posing like they're on the cover of a fashion magazine, then them posing with a sheet of paper with Sunjae's name on it. Haeun with her jacket tied around her neck by the sleeves, pretending she's Superwoman and Bomin holding a lego piece against her as the villain. 

There are quite a few photos with Seungsik and Subin in them too. At some point Subin is wheedled into showing pictures of Byeol for the kids to coo over, even if Seungwoo, once again, claims she likes him better. That ends up on camera, too. Then Subin helping with the Sunjae stand-in, Seungsik holding Haeun's cape so it looks like she's flying. The shutter of Seungwoo’s camera is going off like crazy and Subin can't wait to see the end results. 

It’s still raining by the time the last kid is taken away by a worried parent, even if the rain is no longer pelting on the windows. 

Seungwoo glances out the open door, extending his arm out in the open. There are raindrops sliding down his skin when he brings it back in but as much as Subin appreciates the image, he’s not looking forward to getting soaked on his way to the bus stop.

“You should’ve gone home when you could,” he laughs, zipping up his jacket. It doesn’t even have a hood. It’s a miracle he even had a jacket lying around in the main office, considering it was supposed to be  _ warm. _

Seungwoo shrugs. He rummages into his suitcase and procures… an umbrella? Subin stares at it in confusion. The whole thing is spaced out evenly inside, each of the camera’s lens and the camera itself separated in their own little compartment. Where would you even  _ store  _ an umbrella, even a collapsible one like Seungwoo’s.

He grins at Subin, then steps out the door and opens the umbrella with a flourish. “Wanna share?”

*

“This is ridiculous,” Subin grumbles, even as he’s huddled close to Seungwoo and trying to get as much of himself under the umbrella as possible. The rain isn’t that bad but it’s colder than Subin expected it would be and Seungwoo’s coat is soft.

“I mean,” Seungwoo shrugs one shoulder, narrowly avoiding Subin’s jaw. “You did tell me to try harder.”

The excitement from what feels like months ago has been lurking under the surface ever since Seungwoo showed up in the kindergarten, but now it bursts out like a dam broken by the heavy rain. 

Subin laughs, squeezing closer before he can stop himself. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Maybe,” Seungwoo is smiling, somehow Subin can see it even if he can’t see his face. “But you’re laughing so it looks like I’m on the right track.”

Their bus chooses that moment to pull up which saves him from thinking of an answer but does nothing to calm the giddy feeling in his stomach.

*

They do exchange numbers this time and Seungwoo texts him as soon as Subin closes his front door. He is ridiculous and Subin tells him via text as well. He’s so lost in texting Seungwoo that he almost forgets he has other obligations too. As soon as he dares to sit on his couch, though, he has a lapful of a very disgruntled cat and everything else takes a backseat.

Seungwoo keeps texting him updates of the editing process. They’re sprinkled with how-are-yous and good morning texts at first, then more and more until the need for an excuse to keep the conversation going is no longer there.

Really, Subin blames the excitement of a new person and the potential of  _ more  _ for tragically failing as a cat parent. Again.

*

There’s a niggling worry at the back of his mind throughout the day. At this point he’s pretty sure that Byeol can open doors because there is no other explanation for her balcony adventures. (Excluding teleportation and walking through walls, which Chan suggested. But then again, Byeol is pretty resourceful.) 

The lock on the balcony door still hasn’t been fixed so Subin has taken to propping a chair against it every single day before work. Seungwoo was being extra cheesy today, though, going as far as showing up on his side of the balcony to wish Subin a good day at work.

Subin does remember closing the door afterwards but the chair? His mind is drawing a blank regardless of how much he tries.

It’s no surprise, really, when he gets back from work to see no chair  _ and  _ no Byeol. It doesn't make the flood of worry any less, though.

He doesn't even consider another possibility before he walks straight back out the door and knocks on Seungwoo's. 

Except he doesn't even get to knock because Seungwoo opens the door as soon as Subin gets on his doorstep. 

"She's here." He says without preamble and Subin breathes a sigh of relief. There aren't many options to begin with but all alternatives are infinitely worse than his cat disappearing into his hot (and also kind of adorable?) neighbor's apartment. 

Seungwoo grins, then moves out the way to let Subin in. It's a lot similar to Byeol's last adventure, except this time, she's not judging them from anywhere within sight. 

Subin glances at the couch, then at the kitchen stool she was perched on the last time. No Byeol. 

"Where is she?"

The smile slides off Seungwoo's face, his expression getting more worried by the second. "She was here five minutes ago? Oh my god."

"Calm down," Subin says, even though he's struggling to follow his own advice. “She’s probably somewhere around the apartment? She must be. Right?”

“She is,” Seungwoo says. He sounds a lot more sure than Subin feels. “It’s okay, we’ll find her.”

Whether he’s telling that to Subin or himself, Subin has no idea.

They split off, Seungwoo going to check the balcony, even if it doesn’t look like it has been opened. Subin wanders into one of the rooms adjacent to the living room. It turns out to be the bedroom. Subin takes a moment to appreciate how tidy it is - it’s a nice contrast to some of the disasters he’s witnessed in his friends’ homes. The curtains are drawn and there’s barely any light in the room, which Subin blames for taking so long to notice Byeol perched on the desk in the corner. 

The relief washes over him and Subin feels like he may have lost a few years off his life, all the while Byeol blinks lazily at him from the desk.

“I found her!” Subin yells as he approaches his cat, who only gives a lazy tail flick before she jumps off the desk right as Subin reaches her.

A flurry of papers go flying and Subin scrambles to pick them up, praying they weren’t important. 

Then he notices it’s not really paper - it’s pictures. And Subin’s own face is staring back from quite a few of them.

It’s the pictures from the kindergarten. A lot of them are the children and they look just as adorable as Subin thought they would be. But just as much, there are pictures of Subin. Subin smiling; Subin hunched over the Sunjae stand-in paper. Subin laughing and Subin clutching his phone and glaring at the camera when Seungwoo had introduced Byeol as “the kitty that likes him better than their teacher.”

There’s a subtle cough behind Subin and once again, the pictures flutter to the ground. 

“I’m sorry,” Subin says, hurrying to pick them up again. “I didn’t mean to pry, Byeol was just sitting on top of them and they scattered when she jumped off-”

“It’s fine,” Seungwoo laughs. It’s quiet and amused, much softer than everything Subin has heard from him so far. “I meant to give them to you anyway. For the wall. And for you? I guess it’s kind of obvious who my favorite subject was.”

“Oh my god,” Subin mumbles, hiding his face in his palms. He doesn’t get get embarrassed all that easily, he _ doesn’t  _ but Seungwoo is ridiculous. Subin looks up to glare at him. “You’re ridiculous.”

Seungwoo shrugs, eyes twinkling. “But you seem to enjoy it.”

And really, it’s pointless to deny it at this point. “I kind of do.”

Both of them are quiet for a long moment. It stretches in the silence, the amusement giving way to something heavy, almost palpable. Subin doesn’t really notice the movement but Seungwoo is closer than he was a second ago. Closer still.

“Your cat is staring at us,” Seungwoo mumbles against Subin’s lips. 

Subin sighs, eyes closed. When he finally stomps out the urge to break something, he glances at the bed where Byeol is sitting with her tail curled around her. She’s indeed staring at them, eyes following each of their movements like they’re a particularly annoying cat toy.

“You shouldn’t have tried to play matchmaker if you’re just going to interrupt everything,” Subin grumbles at her but the moment is irreversibly broken and Seungwoo’s laughter only confirms it.

“You have to give it to her, though, she’s great at it” Seungwoo says, raising a finger to poke at Subin’s cheek. Subin tries to bite it, accompanies it with another glare but it only serves to make Seungwoo laugh more.

(Not that Subin is complaining.)


End file.
